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Trying vinyl, need some help!

For the last month, I have been searching for a good cd player or transport and thought I had settled on a Mcintosh unit when I started looking and turntables. I found a Roksan Radius 5 with a Nima tonearm that was in my budget so I bought it.
Now comes the problem, the cartridge. There are so many to choose from and they are not cheap so finding one that would compliment the table/arm is a bit intimidating.
My Audio Research preamp has 2 inputs for MM, or I can purchase a dedicated MC preamp.
If anyone has any experience with the Radius 5 please let me know what you have tried.
drf24
yogiboy's avatar
yogiboy
5,725 posts
 
This Grado Sonata would be a perfect match with that tonearm with the mass of the arm of 11 grams!
https://www.needledoctor.com/Grado-Sonata-V2-Reference
chakster's avatar
chakster
6,144 posts
 
Why not just stay with MM phono stage, but upgraded it to 100k Ohm with Vishay naked Foil Resistors? You can use some of the best MM cartridge with your phono stage without any needs for an MC and MC phono stage. Loaded your MM cartridge with 100k Ohm you will get an amazing sound quality compared to standard 47k Ohm. The cost of this upgrade is nothing. Those resistors available from Texas Components (USA) on ebay. This is the best resistors for audio available today. Highly recommended! 

BTW with your budget you can buy some killer MM from the 70s/80s era, something like AT20SLa or Grace F9
drf24 OP
21 posts
 
This Grado Sonata would be a perfect match with that tonearm with the mass of the arm of 11 grams!
Thanks for the suggestion. Taking a closer look at the Grado

Loaded your MM cartridge with 100k Ohm you will get an amazing sound quality compared to standard 47k Ohm.
Seems there is a lot more to learn about vinyl than just buyin a record and playing it.
chakster's avatar
chakster
6,144 posts
 
@drf24 you can pay less to get much better quality if you will look for MM/MI cartridges made on peak of the MM boom (in the 70s). This is one of them with nude Shibata stylus tip.

Yes, the 100k Ohm option will open up the potential of almost any MM/MI cartridge, simply locate 47k Ohm resistors inside your phono stage and replace them with Vishay 100k Ohm resistors, it will take 15 minutes. Thanks to Raul and Lewm for this advice. 

There you go (you need two, select 100k ohm value): https://www.ebay.com/itm/Texas-Components-TX2575-Naked-Foil-Audio-Resistor-at-0-1-or-better-TX2352-v... 

drf24 OP
21 posts
 
@chakster Thanks again, ordering a set of the 100k right now. The SP-4 has 3 phono inputs, mine doesn't have the head amp option installed though. I can change one of the inputs to 100k and leave the other alone.
Found a few AT20SLa on ebay.
Thanks again for the info, very much appreciated!
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